Stripper Bill

I’ve really been meaning to write about this for a while but sadly readers, I’ve been a tad under the weather and bowing down to the gods of prescription painkillers, so it slipped my mind up until this point.

The Tories have decided Stripper Visa no more, proposing a law that would prevent foreign workers from coming into the country on a “stripper’s visa.” The industry has always talked about a shortage of dancers in Canada, but despite their protests Bill C-57 has been created to (cough) “protect women” from being exploited:

“What we’re trying to do here is protect vulnerable foreign workers, ones that could easily be exposed to sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse,” said Immigration Minister Diane Finley.

I’m not really convinced that this is exactly what is going on here:

“Keeping foreign exotic dancers out of Canada will not address the issue of exploitation,” Annie Temple, who runs NakedTruth.ca, told The Canadian Press. “If the Conservative government is truly concerned about exploitation of exotic dancers, then they should focus on ensuring health and safety standards exist in strip clubs.”

Just to gain an idea of how many foreign women seeking immigration to Canada this effects, in 2004, when Liberal Paul Martin was prime minister, there were 423 visas issued for foreign exotic dancers.

Since Conservative Stephen Harper took over in early 2006, 17 permits have been issued – seven so far this year.

This worries me for a multitude of reasons, primarily because it seems to target the rights of sex workers while hiding behind a false message that it is “protecting them.” The rights of sex workers will certainly not be protected by keeping foreign women from becoming sex workers in Canada.